This makes Watergate look like a toddler poop accident. The more that comes out in these memos the more we see true treasonous corruption orchestrated from the Obama administration, it's FBI and DOJ appointees,the DNC and Hillary. Time to clean house and send these people to prison or worse. Is the liberal RSP mass starting to open its collective eyes with these revelations? I certainly hope so. I know this shatters your world view, but surely you can't still some how maintain rectal-cranial-inversion and worship Hillary and Obama ilk? Not after all this, right?

Members of the pro-Trump media acted like they hit the goldmine on Wednesday morning. Led by Fox News, these outlets went into a frenzy over what they presented as an explosive story that not only cast former President Obama and Hillary Clinton in a negative light, but simultaneously helped vindicate claims then-candidate Donald Trump made about the investigation into Clinton's private email server being "rigged."But a CNN review of the story's premise indicates that key text messages the story relied on were taken out of context, and portrayed as meaning something entirely different than what they actually meant.

In the early hours of the morning, Fox News published an article on its website based on newly-released communications between senior FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. The text messages were released Tuesday in a report produced by the office of Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

In one September 2, 2016, text message, Page wrote that there was a meeting at the bureau setup because Obama wanted "to know everything we are doing."

Johnson, in his report, said the text message raised questions about Obama's involvement in the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. In fact, the message more likely indicated that Obama wanted to be kept informed of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In its story, Fox News reiterated Johnson's claim without scrutiny. In fact, it's not clear if Fox News even reached out to Obama's office prior to publishing to see if there were any other explanation for what Page said in her text. The story makes no note of the reporter having sought comment. In an email to CNN, Fox News spokeswoman Carly Shanahan declined to answer whether Fox's reporter had contacted Obama's office. "It's clear you're getting your talking points from a partisan analysis by Think Progress," Shanahan said, referring to a liberal news website.

Before other media outlets could provide the proper context for the text message, the narrative ricocheted through the pro-Trump media universe in what has become a pattern for stories that seem to call the investigation into Trump into question, or suggest that the investigation into Clinton wasn't thorough. The misleading messaging was delivered to millions of people through Fox News' airwaves and through other pro-Trump media, which went into overdrive. Articles about the text lead websites from the Drudge Report and Breitbart to InfoWars and the Gateway Pundit.

The story eventually made his way to the president himself, who amplified it further when he tweeted, "NEW FBI TEXTS ARE BOMBSHELLS!"

People familiar with the matter strongly dispute the assertion that the text message referenced the Clinton email probe. The text message, they say, was actually referencing Obama's desire to be kept abreast on the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling.

One former Obama official told CNN that the idea the text message was about the Clinton email investigation was "total nonsense," noting that the theory did not conform with the timeline of events.

Indeed, the text message was sent on September 2, 2016, months after the bureau had closed its investigation into Clinton, and before it reopened that investigation. But September 2, 2016 was just days before Obama confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russia's meddling in the presidential election.

A person familiar with Strzok's thinking reiterated this account, telling CNN that the text referred to Obama's broader interests in issues of potential Russian interference in the election more generally. The idea that Obama was micromanaging the FBI's investigation does not match reality, the person said.

In a footnote in his report, Johnson even seemed to concede that the idea the text message referred to the Clinton email investigation was only speculation. The report said the Justice Department said it redacted "text messages that were personal in nature or relating to other investigations." Because this message was not redacted, Johnson's report said, it could be presumed that the Justice Department "believes it may relate to the FBI's investigation of classified information on Secretary Clinton's private server."

This is not the first time a claim pushed by Johnson and Fox News has fallen apart in recent weeks. In late January, the Wisconsin senator backed off a claim -- similarly amplified by Fox News -- that text messages between Strzok and Page indicated there was a "secret society" at the FBI. Johnson did so after people familiar with the exchange said the text message referenced a gag gift of Putin-themed calendars that one of the employees purchased for those working on the early stage of the Russia investigation.

Fox News continued to discuss the story on its air Wednesday afternoon, even after multiple outlets -- including the Wall Street Journal, which is controlled by Fox head Rupert Murdoch -- had reported contrary information.

__________________________________________________

Appears it took only a mere few hours to debunk this latest GOP smear effort. I guess the real question isn't whether the Left is really that crooked, but rather, is the Right really that desperate? I guess we know the answer to that one!

This makes Watergate look like a toddler poop accident. The more that comes out in these memos the more we see true treasonous corruption orchestrated from the Obama administration, it's FBI and DOJ appointees,the DNC and Hillary. Time to clean house and send these people to prison or worse. Is the liberal RSP mass starting to open its collective eyes with these revelations? I certainly hope so. I know this shatters your world view, but surely you can't still some how maintain rectal-cranial-inversion and worship Hillary and Obama ilk? Not after all this, right?

This makes Watergate look like a toddler poop accident. The more that comes out in these memos the more we see true treasonous corruption orchestrated from the Obama administration, it's FBI and DOJ appointees,the DNC and Hillary. Time to clean house and send these people to prison or worse. Is the liberal RSP mass starting to open its collective eyes with these revelations? I certainly hope so. I know this shatters your world view, but surely you can't still some how maintain rectal-cranial-inversion and worship Hillary and Obama ilk? Not after all this, right?

It's just so pathetically obvious that Trump and his Russian handlers are desperately throwing out every possible diversionary tactic possible to distract from what is going to be Trump's undoing at the hands of Robert Mueller. I mean, the Trump supporters efforts to keep the boss in power by throwing out various smokescreens and oil slicks are worthy of a James Bondian car chase...

This makes Watergate look like a toddler poop accident. The more that comes out in these memos the more we see true treasonous corruption orchestrated from the Obama administration, it's FBI and DOJ appointees,the DNC and Hillary. Time to clean house and send these people to prison or worse. Is the liberal RSP mass starting to open its collective eyes with these revelations? I certainly hope so. I know this shatters your world view, but surely you can't still some how maintain rectal-cranial-inversion and worship Hillary and Obama ilk? Not after all this, right?

Let say that all this is true.I really would like to understand why this is more shocking to you than the fact that Trump colluded with the Russians and that the Russians directly and indirectly influenced the results of the presidential election. This really stands for treason, no?

This makes Watergate look like a toddler poop accident. The more that comes out in these memos the more we see true treasonous corruption orchestrated from the Obama administration, it's FBI and DOJ appointees,the DNC and Hillary. Time to clean house and send these people to prison or worse. Is the liberal RSP mass starting to open its collective eyes with these revelations? I certainly hope so. I know this shatters your world view, but surely you can't still some how maintain rectal-cranial-inversion and worship Hillary and Obama ilk? Not after all this, right?

that the Russians directly and indirectly influenced the results of the presidential election.

I'm still having issues understanding why this in itself is somehow damning of the russians. Influencing elections across the world is what most major political powers do. The US does it on a regular basis. It just seems so weird that this is levied as some kind of scandal of itself.

I mean, there's plenty of reasons to despise the Russian government, and there's plenty of reasons to despise Cheeto Jesus, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this is held up as some keystone example of such.

It is incredibly depressing that a presidency so intimately tied with the phrase 'Fake News' seems to have a following that is unrepentantly partisan about burden of evidence and research.

'Fake News' being a popular talking point should have spurred an interest in critical evaluation of all news sources, including a default non-partisan scepticism of all information (heck, your scepticism should increase when a news source is telling you what you want to hear). Yet, the reality is that Trump and his followers will believe anything that fits their own narrative while dismissing anything that doesn't.

Apparently, some people don't even feel the need to bother evidencing their claims anymore:

robininni wrote:

MikePustilnik wrote:

I think a link is missing.

Put your big-boy pants on and go do some research.

Were you really expecting people's worldviews to be 'shattered' without needing to provide any evidence?

Your post implies that you've already done some research of your own, so why not write that research up (with links) and walk people through it if what you have found is so revelationary as to possibly inspire some kind of Copernican revolution amongst liberal/left voters? If you're passionate about politics and you think that this memo is such a big deal, then surely it would be worth some effort?

that the Russians directly and indirectly influenced the results of the presidential election.

I'm still having issues understanding why this in itself is somehow damning of the russians. Influencing elections across the world is what most major political powers do. The US does it on a regular basis. It just seems so weird that this is levied as some kind of scandal of itself.

I mean, there's plenty of reasons to despise the Russian government, and there's plenty of reasons to despise Cheeto Jesus, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this is held up as some keystone example of such.

It's decorum, akin to spying on your allies. Yes everyone does it, but don't get caught.

that the Russians directly and indirectly influenced the results of the presidential election.

I'm still having issues understanding why this in itself is somehow damning of the russians. Influencing elections across the world is what most major political powers do. The US does it on a regular basis. It just seems so weird that this is levied as some kind of scandal of itself.

I mean, there's plenty of reasons to despise the Russian government, and there's plenty of reasons to despise Cheeto Jesus, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this is held up as some keystone example of such.

The issue isn’t that the Russians did it. They can do what they want, and they seem exceptionally gifted in this regard.

The issue is two fold. First that the President denies it happened despite all evidence to the contrary and a denial that involves undermining the agencies that would protect us from future attacks.

Second, the is considerable evidence that Trump exploited the Russian expertise and perhaps in exchange for relief of sanctions.